Thanks, Jen, for your kind words. It's lovely to be back writing among such gorgeous, sexy people again. I've got catching up to do on so many of the comp entrants, and I'll do my best to give those festive stories the time they deserve. They'll help warm up a cold January. Here's wishing everyone a great and literary 2024.

Congratulations to sprite, WW, the other top-tenners, and those who would have graced it equally with their wicked, biting stories. Thanks to Jen and anyone else who had input into the creation of this deliciously evil competition.
As for body counts, I bumped off a couple of characters in my previous comp entry, so this time the only casualties were pride and romantic dreams.
Great fun, everyone. Now I have further Anti-Valentine stories on which to catch up...

Lovely to be a part of this - I'm so glad I didn't read any entries before writing and submitting my own, as I mightn't have bothered with the fiercely imaginative and original storytelling on display. I'm still behind on my reading, as winter illness got the better of me, but am looking forward to catching up.

Great comp - got me back into one of my favourite genres in both literature and film and, as others have said, got us all testing our own writing boundaries. Congrats to the other participants - so far I've found great fiction within AND without the top ten. Merry noir-tinged Christmas, everyone.

I promise I'll try to put more sex in my stories, sprite. 😊

Yes, congrats to sprite and WW, and to so many others who wrote spectacularly sexy, funny, surreal, something deeply affecting flash fiction in this comp. It's a pleasure and privilege to be here being creatively smutty with you all.

I missed all of this! What a twat.

Love you, Kim. Hope and trust that all is going well. 😘

Well done to Genny, WW, Quill, and all the Top Tenners! I've still to catch up with a lot from this comp, and will do, but what I've read so far I've enjoyed hugely. That top placing is particularly great to see! 😀

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Fuck yeah! So well-deserved! Every line of the entire series was a master class!

Thank you, Hanke. You're very kind. And she's very foxy.

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I loved this series so much that I had my mother read it! (Yes, it's true)

Daughter sharing this filth with mother? That's so wrong!!! (And you know I love it.) Thank you!!! 😀

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Wicked Jake!!! 😀😀😀 Sooooo happy for you! Imo, this was your best writing... and you know I've read everything, ebooks included. Savor this one, you lovable devil you 😊

Thank you, Kimster! If I'm writing better, iyo, that makes me happy. Your support is terrific - it helps keep me writing. Seriously. Thanks for reading 😘

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Huge congratulations to you, Jake! Bravo!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Thank you, cg! Thank you for reading!!! 😀

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Outstanding, from beginning to end. Or is it?

I think (read hope) this journey is far from over - for any of the parties involved.

This saga was a masterclass on how to sustain a plot and characters' developing arcs through so many diverse narrative resources; eight chapters and no repetitions... that alone is commendable.

Congratulations, Jay, and thank you for the amazing ride!

It's the end for now, and for this Hydian adventure. Let's see what the future brings...

You're very kind, AC - I'm just happy you and others think I kept things fresh throughout the mayhem, although I've got you in particular to thank.

Quote by AppleByBoom

Woohoo!!

Congratulations, Jake! This was a really thrilling series to follow.

Thank you, Harley! I aim to thrill 😉

Introduce the title of your story: A Perfect Place to Hyde
Genre/Category: Seduction
Provide the link: https://www.lushstories.com/stories/seduction/a-perfect-place-to-hyde-part-one

1. What first inspired you to write this particular story?
In 2020 I wrote a short story for the 'Masturbation' comp entitled 'Where To Get Off', featuring a frustrated teacher named Jed Martin, who resisted the advances of a provocative student on the night of the senior prom. That story ended with a sense that beating off in the knowledge that he'd kept his professional integrity gave him no satisfaction whatsoever. It was the right ending for the comp - obvs - but I wondered what happened to him afterwards. And since he taught English Literature, I wondered what lessons he might learn in his frustration from Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - where the doctor of the title learns how to divide his dark side from the rest of himself, so that it might indulge itself without any consequences for his professional reputation...

2. How did you come up with these characters?
Jed was already established by the previous story - and while he's someone working in education who's struggled for years with his wild sexual urges, please don't go seeing him as in any way autobiographical. If that were the case, however, then Lily and Clara might be viewed as composites of students who I've met over the years - the sweet but more innocent kind of flirt, and the blossoming adventurer on the cusp of wildness (or possibly already experimenting with it). Since the story is all entirely fictional, however, I must have 100% made them up, mustn't I? 😇 That said, Clara's development during the story is definitely reminiscent of how a good friend of mine started out on her sexual journey. And the good friend knows it.

3. How does it differ from some of your other stories?

Well it's more of a journey than many. It begins with a flash-forward of an intensely debauched scene, and then takes eight chapters to get back there. I didn't intend it that way, but frankly I was taking characters - a professional guy who'd mostly experienced sex in the context of long-term relationships and a pair of relatively inexperienced teenage students - who'd just met, from mild flirtation to out-and-out depravity in a single day, and I wanted to do it in a way that felt organic and believable. But the biggest difference is the narrative style - namely the pov of a fourth-wall breaking, cheeky, conversational third-person narrator, who tries to make the reader complicit in what the protagonist is doing, and who uses all manner of playful narrative devices to explore the situation in what I hope is a fun and fresh way.

4. What was the most challenging thing about writing this piece?

Keeping it real, keeping it fun. Having Jed behave in a way that is, frankly, unconscionable, while keeping readers on board with all that he's doing, however depraved. Also, transitioning between the irreverent comedy of the seduction sequences and the intensity of the actively sexual ones, without it feeling like two stories mashed together. And getting to the point where Lily, the more hesitant of the two girls by far, feels compelled to do everything she does - not by Jed, or even by Clara, but by her own deep-rooted motivations.

5. Anything else you want to tell us about it?
While this starts off as Jed's story, and it's his experience that the reader follows, it becomes as much about the very different journeys of Lily and Clara. That wasn't my express intention - this was to be first and last the story of Jed liberating his 'Mr Hyde' side. But the more I wrote, the more the girls' personalities asserted themselves on the story, in keeping - I think - with the overall theme of human duality, i.e. we all have that division within us. By the end, while we leave the story's central location with Jed, we've been party to three characters' process of indulging primal aspects of themselves they'd never fully realised were there.

Congratulations to all the top tenners here. Some I've read, and some are on my list. Great to see a mix of friends and newbs hitting the high spots. Well done Violet, Krystal and Saucy for the podium placings!!! 😀

Thanks, everyone - organisers, readers and judges - and yes, Kim, it's very cosy being sandwiched between Mags and Violet. Lots of lovely, sentimental or fucked-up tales on the top list, and some (I'm pleading a wretched January workload) that I've yet to read; I'm sure the ones I've so far missed will help warm me through the rest of a UK January.

Morning, all. Just a cappuccino if you please, barkeep. With the artistry in the surface foam.

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Hi Rumpies!  

I would like a hot cocoa with tons, and I mean tons (no skimping, Bear), of mini marshmallows.  

I'll be in the corner on Jake ... ... I mean with Jake, hoping some of his comp brilliance rubs off on me. Yup, I'm on my 2nd attempt at a comp piece and starting to doubt this one too... My story's called "Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall" and I will probably submit it tmrw. It may or may not have the comp box checked, depending on my final feelings about it. 

Morning, everyone. Haven't been around much - am starting to miss this place when I'm away. It has that effect, doesn't it?

Double espresso and a biscotti, please. I want a nice continental Sunday. Will be doing a bit of scribbling in the corner here, but feel free to distract me. Sundays are all about distractions, don't you think?

Quote by JamesLlewellyn

So, links to some stories published by Rumps' Regulars over the past week that haven't gotten the attention they deserve:

Fluttered (poem) – Love Awakened 

Kistin (micro) – The Pool Guy

Kimmi (micro - a repeat from this morning) – The Lover in the Mirror

DeviantSusie (micro) – The Funeral Party

Jaymal (another repeat from this morning) –  A Perfect Place to Hyde - Part Four

LilCoffeeLover –  Titillating Treats

Verity100 (micro) – Caught Masturbating

techgoddess – Amazing Grace Part Thirteen

Kistin (micro)  – Monday Morning

techgoddess (micro) – Naked in the Dark

Fluttered (poem) – Recaptured Youth

So there you go. Lots of these are poems or micros, so won't take long to read, but all of them are bound to be enjoyable.

Have fun, y'all!

And remember, in this time of transition, let's help each other get noticed, OK?

Morning, all.

Double espresso with a biscotti, please. Got a lot to get through to day, but no reason it can't be done in a calm and enjoyable fashion. 

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Quote by Jen

James emailed me to say drinks were on the house, but I noticed there was a tiny asterisk next to 'house', which led me to the small print saying drinks were on Jake. So thanks, Jake 😘

Really well done to Jake and Jeff on their comp stories. Two absolute belters. It was nice actually getting to read some for fun this time around. And well done to everyone else who entered and/or placed. I'm glad I didn't need to judge that one!

Cheers everyone ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

So nice to share the podium with you and Jaymal! One of you is grabbing my butt, I can't figure out who. I'd complain, but I'm rather enjoying it, and not knowing who only adds to the pleasure.

I am ready for lots and lots of inebriants. Doesn't matter what, Bring em and line em up.    

Quote by Jen

James emailed me to say drinks were on the house, but I noticed there was a tiny asterisk next to 'house', which led me to the small print saying drinks were on Jake. So thanks, Jake 😘

Really well done to Jake and Jeff on their comp stories. Two absolute belters. It was nice actually getting to read some for fun this time around. And well done to everyone else who entered and/or placed. I'm glad I didn't need to judge that one!

Cheers everyone ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Quote by techgoddess

Congrats to Jake, Jeff, and Jen for the podium wins on the last comp! Cheers!!

Congrats to the rest of the top ten as well. I'm delighted to see my story placed in the top ten. I appreciate all of the peeps who read my story. 

Jake can buy my drink, (Salute, my friend). But I'm buying drinks for all those who entered and didn't get a nod. Putting yourself out there by writing stories for a competition takes a lot of courage. And when I say put all those drinks on my tab...as usual, I mean on James' tab (thanks...you da bear!).

Life has been a rollercoaster lately. I have been unable to write a damn thing. But Nikki lilcoffeeluvr111  nudged me right out of my funk.  I submitted a microfiction piece today and I am working on editing more of Amazing Grace. I hope to be able to submit the next part before I head back up north for my grandson's bday party. After my trip, I should be around more. Unless things continue to spiral for my youngest. A mama's work is never done!

Feels like a good time for a glass of Moscato!

Thanks for all the Thanks! I'm delighted to be one of the three Js. This was a much-fun comp with a lot of very imaginative takes on the theme and some genius fucking-to-beat-the-clock scenarios. Here's to much great writing on Lush 2.0. (I may need to tangle with some tentacles down the line...)

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Quote by Jaymal

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Quote by JamesLlewellyn
Line up single file, please. Since Harley brought the beans, she gets first crack at the brew. But wait for it to actually be coffee this time, BoomBoom, OK?

Geez, James... that was one time...

Yeah, I know it was one time…and that one time always seems to be today!

Meanwhile, time for Treaties for the Sweeties! Donuts for everyone, plus some other pastries for the finicky.

I'll stash Sara's sprinkley donuts, plus the Atlanta sports section, in her hidey hole, plus donuts for Linda, Kimmi, BG, Lily, and Harley. And Trishh if she wants.

Take care, y'all! And as Sprite said, be good to each other.

God, I love me some macaroons, James. Perfect for Sunday high tea. Many thanks. Care to share - you or anyone else - how I can add pics (and therefore colour - not that it's lacking by any stretch) to the Rumps ambience?

Fineee, I'll help. See the box you're typing in? There should be icons along the top that let you change the text to bold etc, and at the end there's a little camera icon. Click that, and then choose external (unless you've uploaded the image to your gallery since the move) and you can copy the URL into there. Mind it should end with .jpg, .jpeg, .png, or .gif. 

Quote by JamesLlewellyn

Quote by AppleByBoom

Quote by JamesLlewellyn
Line up single file, please. Since Harley brought the beans, she gets first crack at the brew. But wait for it to actually be coffee this time, BoomBoom, OK?

Geez, James... that was one time...

Yeah, I know it was one time…and that one time always seems to be today!

Meanwhile, time for Treaties for the Sweeties! Donuts for everyone, plus some other pastries for the finicky.

I'll stash Sara's sprinkley donuts, plus the Atlanta sports section, in her hidey hole, plus donuts for Linda, Kimmi, BG, Lily, and Harley. And Trishh if she wants.

Take care, y'all! And as Sprite said, be good to each other.

Quote by JamesLlewellyn

Quote by Jaymal

Morning, everyone. Just popping by for a mid-morning Sunday beverage. Pint of New Yorker beer, please. I shall raise it in honor (note US spelling) of my American friends on this 9/11 memorial weekend. 

Nice to see the decor here is still the same, seeing how everywhere else in Lush-town has undergone such radical renovation.

Hmmm - Can't see a way of attaching pics...

Kidding aside, good to see you here, boyo!

Folks, Jake here has one of the dirtier, more inventive minds in Lush, so do yourself a flavour and get acquainted with the trash he so masterfully writes!

Here's your beer – and your pic…

Congratulations and thanks, Kat - for your 250 contribution writing achievement and for keeping it friendly and real, respectively. Keep up the impressive work and don't go changing ;) 

Quote by Ishhhvv

Quote by spriteA few moments later she watched them collapse. "It's something you never forget, Rach. Something you wish you could, but every anniversary it still haunts." 

I like most of the world watched it live on TV. I remember coming from school and seeing that. Even as kids we were like..wtf! Had a confusion, "is it a movie? Or what's happening?" Then seeing it was live from news action, that feeling of disbelief. True, never got that day, still vivid. Thoughts and prayers...

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Okay on a Happy Sunday note: I never posted on this thread. So Hello everyone  

I'm Trishh. Have a good day